A long standing and common problem of the sport of fishing is the tendency of fishing lures with hooks to become lodged in logs or other obstructions and when an attempt is made to retrieve the lure, the fishing line is broken and the lure is lost.
Various fishing lure retrievers have been suggested. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,940,203 has suggested the provision of a wire frame on the end of a handle or pole which is guided along the fishing line to the lure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,296,730 has suggested a ring that includes teeth for engaging the body of the lure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,887 shows a ring that has an open mesh sleeve thereon which is guided along the fishing line to the fishing lure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,005 shows a large open mesh frame made of metal bars that is guided along the fishing line to engage a plurality of lures.
Among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a fishing lure retriever which more effectively and successfully retrieves the fishing lures, which is low in cost, which is relatively small, and which operates in a different manner to engage and retriever the fishing lure.
In accordance with the invention, the fishing lure retriever for disengaging a lure with fish hooks from an obstacle comprises a heavy main body, preferably in the form of a sphere, a fishing line guide extending from the main body and engageable by the fishing line for guiding the main body along the fishing line, a handling line attached to the body at a point spaced from the guide, and a hook engaging body telescoped over a post extending outwardly from said main body at a point spaced from said guide and the point of attachment of the handling line. The hook engaging body defines a surface and preferably comprises a tubular braid rope extending radially outwardly from the main body. When the fish lure is lodged in an obstruction, the retriever is first engaged with the fishing line by engaging the guide with the fishing line, the handling line is then utilized to guide the retriever under the weight of the main body downwardly along the fishing line and when the main body approaches the fishing lure it applies a force tending to dislodge the fishing lure from the obstruction and to move the hook engaging body into engagement with the hooks of the fish lure so that the fish lure can be retrieved by lifting the handling line.